ANZAC rifle companies contained a significant number of veterans of the fighting in Malaya and Borneo, making them some of the best troops in Vietnam when it came to jungle patrols, moving silently and maintaining excellent camouflage discipline.
The cocksure Australians did not know the meaning of defeat, refusing to give ground even when ridiculously outnumbered and surrounded at Long Tan. The New Zealanders were less brash, but equally determined to hold their ground.